Wizards vs. Nets: Before The Game

Some quotes and pictures from before today’s Wizards game versus the New Jersey Nets …

Flip Saunders on Andray Blatche:

“Dray, his scoring production in the fourth quarter isn’t what it is in the first three quarters because teams lock in more.”

“Early in the game Dray’s definitely a lot more ready to take cuts, work a little bit harder … late in the games, he gets pushed out a little bit.”

“The number of minutes he’s played, he hasn’t played this. All these guys are going through a huge learning experience of playing more minutes and going through situations and learning through that whole process.”

Flip on his demeanor, the season, and why he hasn’t completely snapped:

“I think you have to understand where you’re at, everything is always an adjustment. Early in the year we had some injuries which hurt us a little bit. You keep on thinking that things are going to get okay, then of course we had the situation with Gil which threw everything into a whole different tailspin. But I think you have to evaluate the situation, you can’t really worry about things you really don’t have control. The only thing you have control of is the guys you have to try to get them to play as well as they can.”

“As a coach, you want to get the guys to understand the process for next year. You want to get them to try to improve, to give them time to learn. But you also can’t get to a point where you get them where they lose confidence either.”

“From my standpoint, I look at the guys’ improvement. Even though we’re not winning games, believe it or not, we’re better right now … we’re better than before when we won some of those games. And so we got guys who are getting better, whether it’s Andray getting better, Shaun Livingston is getting better, JaVale is getting better. So, you have to look at that. Sometimes getting better might not register in wins.”

{Sam Cassell & Shaun Livingston}

{Cedric Jackson & Cartier Martin}

{JaVale McGee’s Jordans}

{Cartier Martin’s Nikes}

{Shaun Livingston’s LeBrons}

Kyle founded TAI in 2007 and has been weaving in and out the world of Wizards ever since, ducking WittmanFaces, jumping over G-Wiz, and avoiding stints on the DNP-Conditioning list. He has covered the Washington pro basketball team as a member of the media since 2009. Kyle lives in D.C. with his wife, loves basketball, and has no pets.

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